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Measure of variability (MOV)
is the probable range of values resulting from random fluctuations in the number
of events and tells whether a county rate or percentage is statistically different
from the state.

When county rates are statistically different than state rates,
they are marked with *.

Florida's Population

This section of the Florida Mortality Atlas provides a visual display of population
trends in Florida over the past 33 years. Maps, graphs, and charts are used to depict
Florida’s population growth from 1970 to 2003 by age, race, and gender. All files
are provided in .pdf format for convenient printing.

Mortality risk is related to demographic variations within a population. Such variations
include differences in racial composition, gender composition, and age. Nonwhites
have higher mortality rates than Whites for most causes of death. Males have higher
mortality rates for many causes of deaths than females, which is reflected by the
fact that females, on average, tend to have a greater life expectancy than males.
Certain age groups are at greater risk of developing or contracting certain illnesses
than other age groups. For example, Florida residents ages 85 and older are more
likely to succumb to complications of Alzheimer’s disease than residents ages 55
to 64. Both the very young and the elderly are at an increased risk of developing
influenza or pneumonia. Awareness of the racial, gender, and age composition of
a population may lead to a better understanding of mortality risks related to that
population.

The sources of data for the Florida Mortality Atlas are the Florida Department of
Health’s Office of Vital Statistics, the US Census Bureau, the National Center for
Health Statistics, the Bureau of Economic and Business Research, and the Florida
Legislature Office of Economic and Demographic Research.

Trends in Population Growth

Florida is a large and diverse state with over 17 million residents and host to
many elderly persons, immigrants, and national and international visitors. The state
has experienced tremendous population growth in the last several decades.
The population in Florida has increased by 134.6% from 1970 to 2000. The 1990s was
the third consecutive decade in which Florida’s population grew by approximately
3 million residents. Florida currently ranks fourth among the fifty states in population
and continues to be one of the most rapidly growing states in the nation.

The population density in the state of Florida has more than doubled since 1970.
In 1970, Florida had a population density of 120.6 persons per square mile. By 2000,
the state’s population density had increased to 282.9 persons per square mile. Many
of the state’s most densely populated areas are located in the southern and central
regions and along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. These highly dense areas tend to
be counties that experience higher shares of Florida’s net migration.

Definitions and Data Interpretation Notes

Race

The Florida Mortality Atlas distinguishes residents as being either White (including
White Hispanics) or Nonwhite (all other race and ethnic groups, including Blacks).
Blacks comprise about 87% of the Nonwhite group.

Life Expectancy

Life expectancy is a measure often used to gauge the overall health of a population.
As a summary measure of mortality, life expectancy represents the average number
of years of life at birth that could be expected if current death rates were to
remain constant. Shifts in life expectancy are often used to describe trends in
mortality. Life expectancy at birth is strongly influenced by infant and child mortality.
Improvements in nutrition, housing, hygiene, medical care, and prevention and control
of infectious diseases contribute to decreases in death rates throughout the lifespan
and the consequent increases in average life expectancy.

Quartiles

Many of the maps in the Florida Mortality Atlas are colored using a quartile method.
In this method, data (age-adjusted death rates) are calculated and then ranked from
lowest to highest for all 67 counties. Next, the counties are divided into four
groups. Each of the four groups is assigned a number from 1 to 4. The counties with
the smallest quantities of the events being ranked are assigned to the first quartile
(1) and are shaded with the lightest color, while the counties with the highest-quantities
of the event are assigned to the fourth quartile (4) and are shaded with the darkest
color. Because quartiles are calculated using data from all 67 counties, the color-coded
map provides a relative ranking among counties.

Three maps in the Population section of the Florida Mortality Atlas did not use
the quartile method. These maps are Percent of Population Change by Primary Reason,
Percent of Population Change Due to Natural Increase, and Percent of Population
Change Due to Net Migration. Instead, counties were manually assigned to
groups to emphasize those that are outliers.

Components of Growth

There are four components of population growth: births, deaths, in-migration and
out-migration. Births and in-migration increase the size of a population, whereas
deaths and out-migration cause decreases. The overall growth (or decline) of the
population is thus determined by the number of births, deaths, in-migrants, and
out-migrants.

--Natural Increase

The natural increase (or decrease) of a population is a result of the difference
between births (fertility) and deaths (mortality). The number of births and deaths,
along with fertility and mortality rates, vary from place to place. In some areas
of Florida, deaths actually outnumber births, mainly due to the high numbers of
elderly people settling, and subsequently dying, in those areas. Between 1990 and
2000, natural increase in Florida accounted for about 14 percent of Florida's total
population growth. The Office of Vital Statistics maintains the official records
of births and deaths in Florida.

--Net Migration

Net migration is not a process of population change, but the outcome of two migration
processes (in-migration and out-migration). In this Atlas, in-migrant is defined
as anyone moving into a county and out-migrant is defined as anyone moving out of
a county. Most of Florida's growth between 1990 and 2000 can be attributed to net
migration, which accounted for about 86 percent of the population growth during
that decade. This stands in sharp contrast to the experience in many states, where
net migration is small or even negative.

Since data on births and deaths are many times more reliable (and are more likely
to be available) than data on in-migration and out-migration, the effects of the
two migration processes on the growth of a population are often estimated. In this
Atlas, net migration is estimated using population estimates for two different years
and birth and death data for the period between those two years, as detailed in
the following formula:

This formula provides an estimate of net migration in Florida, though it does mask
trends in in-migration and out-migration.

Population density

Population density is expressed in residents per square mile, which can be obtained
simply by dividing the number of residents by the land area of the county measured
in square miles.